{"id":57008,"date":"2016-07-26T15:22:51","date_gmt":"2016-07-26T22:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=57008"},"modified":"2016-07-26T15:25:47","modified_gmt":"2016-07-26T22:25:47","slug":"30-years-of-ltte-terror-killings-do-sinhalese-lives-matter-to-unhrc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/07\/26\/30-years-of-ltte-terror-killings-do-sinhalese-lives-matter-to-unhrc\/","title":{"rendered":"30 years of LTTE Terror Killings: Do Sinhalese lives matter to UNHRC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

Why is no one counting the Sinhalese dead? There are no books, no documentaries, no panel discussions, no media coverage, no UNHRC head wants to even come and meet the families of these victims, no global tears or candles, no vigils, no commemorations. Are Sinhalese not human beings too? Do their deaths not matter? When LTTE stormed their villages, slit them to pieces while they were asleep, babies dashed to the ground \u2013 were these not sensational enough to be relayed across the world? Did the Sinhalese not cry enough, did they not scream enough? Why has no one in 30 years come forward to empathize with the Sinhalese? In a country with 74% Sinhalese wasn\u2019t it the Sinhalese who were targeted the most? Can the UN & the UNHRC please tell us why the Sinhalese lives don\u2019t matter?<\/p>\n

Starting from killing villagers in the Kent & Dollar Farms in 1984 we really do not know how many villages the LTTE stormed and killed. These Sinhalese lived in fear, children going to school were shot dead, men were slain as they went to work on their farms \u2013 what had they done to anger the LTTE. They were ordinary people trying to make ends meet. Not a penny has been given to them. There are no global funds for them. No one gives them refugee or asylum. With dried up tears they are continuing their lives.<\/p>\n

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Children killed by LTTE. <\/strong><\/p>\n

It was not enough that LTTE kidnapped low caste impoverished Tamil children many of whom did not even have parents and turned them into child soldiers, but the LTTE guns also turned on innocent children. What was the message they wanted to convey in nullifying the life of an innocent child? What crimes has these children committed to the LTTE?<\/p>\n

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This is Matara Kithalagama Sri Seelalankara Thera<\/strong>\u00a0(also known as\u00a0Dimbulagala Hamuduruwo<\/strong>) He was the \u00a0Chief incumbent of the Dimbulagala Raja Maha Vihara. On May 26, 1995 on his way to visit a farm belonging to the temple he was killed by the LTTE. His crime was providing moral support to the poor people living in border villages to fight LTTE intrusions into their villages.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.sundayobserver.lk\/2013\/05\/26\/fea04.asp<\/a><\/p>\n

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Student Buddhist priests shot dead by LTTE<\/strong><\/p>\n

33 Buddhist monks were traveling in a bus on 2 June 1987 (Aranthalawa) They were going on a pilgrimage. LTTE stopped the bus and mercilessly attacked them. 3 Buddhist monks escaped death. One is disabled for life. To harm a Theravada Buddhist monk is said to be one of the greatest crimes anyone can commit. Once again the world viewed this as no major crime. Nothing to warrant the UNSG to even appoint a panel to appraise him of the lists of murders LTTE had been committing.<\/p>\n

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LTTE Commits Cultural Genocide<\/strong> \u2013 It is a war crime to destroy cultural monuments.<\/strong> LTTE has been systematically destroying all evidence of Sinhala Buddhist heritage sites in the North and East.<\/p>\n

Sri Maha Bodhi Temple \u2013 14 May 1985<\/strong><\/p>\n

LTTE entered the sacred city of Anuradhapura.<\/p>\n

This was the 1st<\/sup> major attack by LTTE outside a Tamil majority area. 120 worshipping pilgrims including Buddhist monks were killed and over 85 were injured,<\/p>\n

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https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0YWANDeMWRg<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=QWNmq_04ZeQ<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic of Buddha)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The world reaction to Bastille Day and the no reaction to the Dalada Maligawa is noticeable and disappointing. But then, we are not living in Europe, and we are not French \u2013 we are just Sinhalese<\/p>\n

25 January 1998 – LTTE exploded a massive truck bomb inside the Temple of the Tooth premises which was to be the centre the independence day celebrations. Three suicide LTTE Black Tigers drove an explosive laden truck containing 300\u2013400\u00a0kg of high explosives people. 16 people including the 3 attackers and a 2-year old infant were killed in the incident. Over 25 people, including 4 women, a monk and a police officer were injured. P. W. Withanage, a professor of geology also died due to shock after hearing the incident. The powerful attack left most of the buildings within a radius of 5\u00a0km damaged, and glass panes broken.<\/p>\n

Sri Lankan government officially banned LTTE for the first time on 26 January 1998.<\/p>\n

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Killing unarmed policemen who surrendered to LTTE \u2013 is this not a war crime?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1990 over 600 policemen surrendered, laying down their arms. What is the law when a person surrenders? Do you shoot them? Well the LTTE asked them to stand next to each other and what did the LTTE do? They shot them one after the other\u2026.one after the other\u2026. one after the other until all of them were dead. They were all extra-judicially executed. Here was a mass murder but it never got any international recognition because the victims were mostly Sinhalese so these deaths don\u2019t qualify to enter the UNHRC books.<\/p>\n

How sad.<\/p>\n

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LTTE attack unarmed \/ injured Sri Lanka security forces personnel<\/strong><\/p>\n